ClaireBear to Flying Man
by superlc529
Summary: A one-shot to my way of Nathan and Claire's first meeting. Instead of leaving Kermit and saying no he decided to meet Claire then and there. Please Read and Review


A/N: I don't own Heroes

A/N: I don't own Heroes. This idea has been in my mind FOREVER and I can't get it out. I just had to write this. I know I'm going all the way back to Season 1 but I can't help it. I love Nathan/Claire – father/daughter bonding. The beginning _italics_ are direct dialogue from Episode "Run" 1x15 and I don't own that either but everything else that is in this story came from my brain and I don't want Sylar stealing it ;) I hope you enjoy this story. Please Read and Review.

Claire-Bear to Flying Man

Nathan Petrelli has always been known as a rational man but for the past couple of weeks some things have been far from rational. Ranging from the fact that he is trying to deal with the fact that he can fly to the fact that his brother Peter thinks that he's going to explode half of New York City; but right now he was pulling up to a trailer in Kermit, Texas to see Meredith Gordon. Last he saw her he was almost twenty years old and his daughter Claire was only 18 months old. He had thought them to have died in a fire fourteen years ago until he got the call that they were both alive. This was one moment in his life that was rational and somewhat normal, he could deal with this.

Meredith opened up the door and all Nathan Petrelli, aspiring Congressman and rational man could do, was just stare at her. He couldn't help it he hadn't seen her in so many years and even thought her to be dead. When he met her he was only eighteen and at that age he became a reluctant father to a daughter that he was secretly hoping wouldn't hate him. They walked in the trailer and had a seat at a small table.

_"Look for what it's worth, I'm sorry for the way things turned out. You know I could've been a, cough, a much better person back then," Nathan said crossing his legs nervously and cleared his throat._

_"You politicians you sure know your way around an apology," Meredith replied with a slight clip to her tongue. Those words however cut through Nathan not in an obvious way but it could be seen in his eyes. She continued, "You and me we were never going to work out."_

_"Two different worlds," Nathan and Meredith said in unison as they both let out an uneasy laugh in an ill-fated attempt to cut some of the tension out of the conversation._

_Nathan let out a collective sigh and took out an envelope from his suit jacket and waved it slightly indicating that this was the money he promised and after a quick glance into Meredith's eyes he realized that that was all she wanted from him and nothing more. She was looking at the envelope in anticipation ready to get out of the state. Again Nathan was hoping that Claire wasn't like her mother in that respect._

_"I…uh I hope this goes a long way toward making up for the fact that I wasn't there. For both of you." Nathan said handing over the envelope to Meredith. Meredith just looked at him and the envelope and took the money. "So… where is she?" Nathan rubbed his hand against his leg in anticipation and an attempt to calm his nerves. He let out the word 'so' a little loud in his mind confirming his nervousness._

_"Claire?," Meredith asked making sure that's who he was talking about._

_"Mm-hm," Nathan replied even though he thought it was a stupid question. After all who else could he have been talking about?_

_"You just missed her," Meredith replied and missed the slight disappointment in Nathan's eyes._

_"She want to see me?," Nathan asked still hoping that Claire wasn't going to hate him and maybe even like him._

_"Yeah… I snapped a photo of her," Meredith said finally starting to sound genuine and noticed the fact that Nathan actually was a little nervous while taking out her cell phone and looking lovingly at the picture. "Look how beautiful she is."_

_"I-I'm sure she is," Nathan replied still scared out of his wits. He was worried that his mother was right and that 'one look into those sad little eyes' and he'd be hers. He looked like he was fighting a battle within himself and losing._

_"Take a look, Nathan," Meredith said handing the phone to the New Yorker. He took it and looked at the picture and from that second he knew that his mother was right… he was hers._

_"She came here with her bags all packed. She thought you were going to rescue her from her tragic life. That sound familiar?," Meredith explained. In some strange way it sounded like she was trying to dissuade him from seeing her bringing up their past so he might not want to have anything to do with her. "I told her you were just here to pay your money and go."_

_Still holding the cell phone he continued to stare at his daughter's picture. He looked into her eyes and saw the anguish in them. They looked entirely too much like his own proving again that she was really his daughter. Once again he looked like he was fighting a battle in himself and this time he looked as if he was fighting off tears as well. To top it all off he was also battling his mother's voice in his head contemplating whether he should see her or not._

_"Did I speak out of turn?," Meredith asked. She was being very old-fashioned in this conversation. "I-I could call her… I could get her to come back."_

Still Nathan looked at the digital pixels on the LCD screen of her cell phone and came to the conclusion that looking at the real thing would be so much better. Winning the fight with his mother in his mind he said, "Uh… yeah… yeah call her I'd love to see her."

Slightly shocked at his answer she stood up and said, "O-Okay… just a minute." Quickly outside the window, Claire Bennett ran away from the window back to her car so that the occupants inside the trailer wouldn't hear her cell phone ring giving away the fact that she was sitting there the whole time.

"Hello?," Claire said answering her phone pretending like she didn't know who was on the other end. "Mom?".

"Yeah, Claire it's me. I was just wondering if you're not too far out already if you could come back?," Meredith asked. In that sentence Nathan could hear a little bit of a waver thinking that she might actually _not_ want Claire to meet him.

"Why?," Claire asked faking ignorance.

"Your father, your biological father is here and he wants to meet you," Meredith replied looking over in Nathan's direction.

"Really?," Claire asked excitedly. "Well I didn't even leave the parking lot… tell him I'll be there in a minute." She didn't even bother saying goodbye as she hung up and let out a small cry of happiness, happy at the fact that something in her life was finally going to be real.

"Claire's on her way. She didn't even leave the parking lot and will be here in a minute," Meredith said walking back into the room where Nathan was residing.

"Okay… I'll go tell my driver that I'll find my own transportation home and my own flight home," Nathan said getting up and headed to his driver and did as he said he would. Within a minute he came back in the trailer slowly, wondering if she was there yet but let out a disappointed sigh when he just saw Meredith sitting there. What Nathan failed to notice was that as he was walking in, a certain blonde-indestructible-teenager was following him to the door.

Not even a second after Nathan sat back down in the chair he was sitting in before, a knock came to the door and he let out an inaudible gasp as Meredith said, "I'll get it."

"Hi," Claire said seeing her mom again. For a girl who has died before and broken every bone in her body she looked very nervous at the prospect of meeting her bio-dad as she dubbed him in her mind. "Can I see him?". Instead of a verbal answer, Meredith stepped back and motioned her to the table where Nathan promptly stood up and father and daughter just stood there in awkward silence.

"I'm going to leave you two alone for a little while. I'll be back in a bit, give you a chance to get to know each other," Meredith said clinging the envelope of money that Nathan gave her to her chest and headed out the door leaving the two in solitude.

"Hi," Claire said breaking the silence. Nathan remained speechless and being the brave girl that she is, she continued on a conversation that might prompt him to talk and come out of his shocked stupor. "I'm Claire."

"Nathan," he replied with a small crack to his voice that surprised even him. "So do you live nearby?".

"Odessa actually," Claire replied. Nathan sat back down and Claire took Meredith's spot as the tension continued to rise. "So where do you live? New York?".

"Yes I do actually… why do I scream New Yorker to you?," Nathan said and started to tease as the tension lifted gesturing to his three-piece suit.

"No," Claire laughed. "No, Meredith actually told me that you lived in New York when I asked about you."

"Oh," Nathan said still a little speechless.

"_Well if I'm gonna ask I should ask now and hope that it doesn't ruin any chance I have of a relationship with him. Maybe he has an ability to like Meredith does," Claire thought standing up and then voiced aloud, _"This is going to sound very strange but could you follow me for a minute? There's something I need to show you." She got up and headed to the kitchen and by the time Nathan reached her she already had a giant steak knife in her hand.

"Claire!," Nathan yelled as he saw her cut her arm mirroring her reveal to Meredith before. Miraculously the deep gash closed with dry blood on her arm.

"Please say something," Claire said saying the exact same thing she said to her bio-mom when she did the exact same thing.

"How?," Nathan asked scrunching his eyebrows together confused when they walked back in the other room and sat on the couch. "How'd you do that?".

"It's something that happened to me about six months ago. I've been able to heal… _regenerate_ like that for some time and I've healed through injuries a _lot_ worse than that before," Claire replied still careful not to scare her father off. "This might sound like an odd question and even if it means I'll never see you again I need to ask… can you do anything out of the ordinary?".

If there was one question he thought he'd never hear from his daughter that would be it because he was still coming to terms with his 'ability' but thinking that this was her solace and his answer would depend on her not feeling alone, he answered truthfully, "Actually, I can… just not anything like that."

"What can you do?," Claire asked sounding a little more up-beat than before as well as hopeful.

"I can fly," Nathan replied looking into his daughter's eyes and visibly it looked like weights were lifted off of his shoulders as he omitted it to someone he loves. Yes, even though he just met her, he loved her, after all she was his daughter.

"That is so cool," Claire replied. "Can you show me… like levitate or something?," Claire asked. Nathan looked a little uneasy but she gave him the "I-showed-you-my-power-so-now-you-show-me-yours" look. He stood up and levitated half of a foot above the ground.

"I don't really know what this is, it just sort of happened to me," Nathan said enjoying the fact that he could finally talk to somebody about this openly.

"How fast can you go?," Claire asked and let out a teasing smile, "Faster than a speeding bullet?".

"I don't know… but I'm far from Superman. Last time I flew it was to get away from these two men who wanted to kidnap me. As I flew I heard a sonic boom behind me so I guess I was going faster than the speed of sound," Nathan replied.

"Someone tried to abduct you?," Claire asked clearly interested.

"Yeah, one guy did all the talking and he had horn-rimmed glasses and there was also a creepy-looking Euro dude with him. The one with the horn-rimmed glasses had a gun on him trained on me and I had nowhere to go but up," Nathan explained.

"Horn-rimmed glasses?," Claire asked coming to the conclusion that her adopted dad tried to kidnap her bio-dad.

"Yeah… why did he try to kidnap you too?," Nathan asked blood boiling at the mere idea that someone might try to hurt his daughter, his paternal instinct coming out full force.

"No… No he didn't," Claire replied calming his nerves some, "He's my dad, well my adopted dad. I just found out that he doesn't do what I thought he did and he does something completely different."

"He hunts people like us down?," Nathan asked classifying themselves different from other people.

"I don't know… I was hoping, wishing that you could take me with you, back to New York. Live with you," Claire asked her voice wavering.

"Claire…," Nathan started and Claire knew that tone of voice he was going to try to let her down easy.

"I'm in the middle of an election for Congress and…," Nathan started to explain.

"You can't have an illegitimate daughter running loose?," Claire asked finishing his sentence. Nathan looked down dejectedly when Claire spoke again giving him a little hope with her next statement, "I promise that I won't go near any cameras and nobody will know about me unless you want them to."

"That could work," Nathan said with a genuine smile not at all like the politician-fake smiles he gives the cameras. "Looks like you inherited my brains." They exchanged smiles.

"How are we getting to New York?," Claire asked as they walked out of the trailer and to Claire's car. "Fly?".

"If you're talking plane," Nathan replied teasing as he got in the car.

"Actually I was thinking traveling Nathan Express," Claire teased starting the engine going back to Odessa and get her things.

"I've never taken on a passenger before and I don't want you getting hurt," Nathan replied trying to dissuade her idea.

"I can't get hurt… remember?," Claire replied.

"I'll think about it," Nathan said and looked at his watch. "That might be the only way I can get back to New York in time for some meetings I have tomorrow."

"Where will I stay?," Claire asked.

"Uh… I guess in the mansion," Nathan answered.

"Mansion? You live in a mansion?," Claire asked completely shocked. Her fantasy of what her bio-parents would be like was coming true in her father.

"Yeah… but I think that the only person I'll be introducing you to as my daughter will be my brother," Nathan said thinking out loud.

"Rest of your family not as understanding?," Claire asked keeping her eyes on the road. They actually had been on the road for a little while before their conversation initiated.

"It's not that… it's just that I guess I trust my brother more than anybody else," Nathan replied

"Can't wait to meet him then," Claire said with a smile as she pulled up to the Bennett's house. "You can come in so I can let my mom and brother know where I'm going." Nathan just nodded as they both got out of the car and headed into the house.

"Claire?! Is that you? Dinner's just about ready!," Sandra Bennett yelled as she heard the door open.

"Yeah! Get in here you dork!," Lyle yelled.

"That's my mom and brother," Claire explained.

"You got two other brothers too," Nathan said talking about his two little boys that he has with Heidi, "Simon and Monty." Claire just smiled and walked in the house with Nathan staying a farther distance away so he wouldn't scare her adopted family with a stranger in the house.

"Yeah! Mom it's me and I need to tell you something!," Claire said and saw her mom scooping pasta out of a giant over-boiling pot of water.

"What?," Sandra asked looking to her daughter for an answer. Claire looked behind her and motioned for Nathan to come in and he did as he was told. "Who are you?".

"He's my father… my bio-dad… real bio-dad," Claire explained and corrected herself knowing that they had met fake bio-parents that were hired by Mr. Bennett.

"_Real_ bio-dad?," Sandra asked confused.

"The people that we met weren't really my bio-parents. They were people that Dad hired saying they were my real parents," Claire explained without giving any implications of the Company.

"He a freak like you too?," Lyle asked teasing. Nathan looked to Lyle with a cross of fear and confusion on his face but when Claire punched him in his arm and said, "Shut-up, Lyle" he knew it was just sibling-rivalry-teasing.

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you Mr…," Sandra started getting the pleasantries out of the way and drawled out "Mr." so he could fill her in on his last name.

"Just call me Nathan," Nathan replied. He thought that calling himself, "Mr. Petrelli" in front of his daughter was too formal and not right.

"In that case call me Sandra," Sandra answered. "So what brings you to our humble abode?".

"I decided that I want to go live with him," Claire answered for him which received a shocked expression from the woman in the room.

"YES! I'll be an only child," Lyle said making a 'yes' motion with his fist.

"Lyle!," Sandra scolded and turned to her daughter, "Claire did you decide this on your own?".

"If you're asking did he make me? Than no… I _want_ to go live with him. He can afford it… he's got a mansion in New York and I know he'll be able to take care of me. It's what I want," Claire answered pleading with her mother. It's not that she didn't love her she just needed to get away from her adopted-dad.

"Are you sure?," Sandra asked cupping her face and Claire nodded. She let out a few tears and looked to Nathan. "Then you take _real_ good care of her or I'll find you and hunt you down."

"Of course," Nathan replied.

"How are you two getting to New York?," Sandra asked looking back and forth at father and daughter.

"We'll fly… privately," Nathan answered. To Sandra it sounded like they were just going to be on a private plane but it was Nathan's way of telling Claire that she got her wish and that she'd be flying "Nathan Express".

"Take care of yourself and call whenever you can," Sandra said looking to Claire who was already half way up the stairs to grab her stuff.

While Claire was getting her luggage upstairs, Lyle thought it would be wise to size-up Nathan to see if he was good enough to be his big sister's dad, "So what do you do in New York, Nathan?".

"I'm a lawyer but I'm currently running for Congress… if you were in New York right now I'd just say "Vote Petrelli"," Nathan answered trying humor but after noticing a lack of a smile he stopped and shut-up.

"Okay," Lyle said not really caring about details. He just wanted to make sure she'd be okay. He figured that he was good enough to be his sister's dad and started reveling in the fact that now he'd be an only child.

Trotting down the stairs with a backpack on her back _stuffed_ with clothes Claire said, "Let's go Nathan, our flight's leaving pretty soon." Nathan just smiled knowing she meant that she wanted him to take off in a few minutes.

"Goodbye, Claire," Sandra said and enveloped her in a huge bear hug. "And I mean it… call _whenever_ you can."

"I will… I love you, mom," Claire said hugging her mom and just waved at Lyle.

"I love you too, Claire," Sandra said and waved while tears flowed gently down her cheeks. Nathan gave them sympathetic smiles as the duo headed out the door.

"Where do you want to take off?," Nathan asked.

"Before we go… there's one more person I want to say goodbye to," Claire said. "Nobody's watching now… can you take off here and I'll tell you where to go?".

Nathan looked around cautiously and nodded, it's not like anybody would recognize him in Texas anyway, "Yeah… hang on tight." Nathan picked Claire up and went straight up. He wasn't as high as he was before but high enough so that they could still see the rooftops.

"This is so awesome!," Claire yelled excitedly and Nathan smiled. "There." Claire pointed to a kid next to his bike, tying his shoe by an empty park, who she knew to be Zach.

"I can't just land in front of him," Nathan protested.

"No… it's okay he knows about me," Claire reassured him. "He won't be freaked out he'll just think it's cool." Nathan seemed a little hesitant but trusted his daughter and he landed a few feet in front of Zach.

"Whoa… Claire where'd you come from?," Zach asked when he noticed another man behind her. He didn't even see them land since he was too busy tying his shoe.

"Just came to say good-bye," Claire said.

"Good-bye? Where you going?," Zach asked, sadness evident in his voice.

"New York," Claire answered. "He's my bio-dad and I decided to live with him."

"Really?," Zach asked.

This time Nathan answered for his daughter, "Yes she is."

"So… he like you?," Zach asked a little unsure if he even knew about her being "Little-Miss-Miracle-Grow".

"Kind of," Claire answered. "_He_ can fly."

"Awesome," Zach replied. "Take care, Claire." A little out of character, Zach hugged Claire and she hugged him back.

"Bye Zach… call me," Claire said walking backwards closer to her father.

"I will… say can I watch you?," Zach replied and looked at Nathan.

"Watch me?," Nathan asked.

"You know, take off?," Zach asked thrilled at the prospect that he could watch a human-being fly.

Nathan looked hard in the eyes and Zach looked a little scared to say the least but after looking at Claire nodding her head his expression softened and he just nodded, "Claire since we'll be moving faster I suggest you get on my back and hold on _really_ _tight_." She did just as he said and looked as if he was giving her a piggy-back ride.

"Bye Zach," Claire said and he nodded back at her. Nathan even nodded at him in acknowledgement as they shot up into the sky and broke the sound barrier.

"Whoa," Zach simply said looking up at the flying man.

Up in the sky moving faster than the speed of sound to the Petrelli Mansion, Nathan decided to strike up conversation but had to yell because of the wind blowing past them, "So! Is that Zach kid your boyfriend?!".

"What?!," Claire yelled in Nathan's ear because her head was down from the wind. Her head was pretty much in his neck and if her grip on him were any tighter she'd be choking him.

Noticing her discomfort he slowed his speed down a little and asked again, "Is Zach your boyfriend?!".

"No! He's just a friend! He's the only person I could trust with my secret!," Claire explained yelling over the winds. This time since they decreased their speed she could pick her head up.

Nathan of course didn't believe her but let it go and soon he noticed that the Petrelli Mansion was coming into view, "Hang on we're almost home!". Claire just nodded into his neck because he started picking up speed again. "We're here!". He slowed down and made himself vertical as he landed on the terrace where his family had had 'family brunch' with the reporter.

"That was the most amazing thing I've ever experienced in my entire life!," Claire yelled excitedly as her feet finally touched the ground. "I bet you save a lot of money on air-fare." Nathan just laughed at that comment and walked inside as Claire marveled at the vast space.

"I have no idea where my brother is… he's been a little AWOL lately," Nathan said taking out his cell phone and dialing Peter's number.

"Can't wait to meet him," Claire repeated. Again he smiled, he was smiling a lot more genuinely after he met his long lost daughter.

"Finally I found you!," Nathan said in his phone. They were in the family room as Claire sat down on the couch and Nathan continued to talk to Peter. "Where the hell have you been?".

"I've been training," Peter answered looking over at Claude who looked annoyed that they stopped because his cell phone wouldn't stop ringing.

"Training for what?," Nathan asked.

"To control my powers," Peter replied. "Remember? I'm going to blow-up half of New York unless I can keep myself under control."

"Fine… but can you get over here? I need to tell you something really important. Take a break from your training," Nathan suggested. Peter didn't reply but Nathan knew he had a reluctant look on the other end. "You can go back to training afterwards I promise… I just need you here for a little bit… Please."

"All right… where are you?," Peter replied.

"The mansion," Nathan answered. "Why don't you fly over it'll be quicker."

"If you're going to be sarcastic, Nathan than I'm gonna just hang up and go back to training," Peter said annoyed.

"I'm not being sarcastic… I mean it. I want you over here quick," Nathan said looking to Claire, he wanted to be able to talk about his daughter freely with someone else besides said daughter. Nathan heard a reluctant 'okay' and then the line went dead. "He's coming."

"So tell me about him," Claire said. "Is he like us?".

"Kind of," Nathan said starting to explain. "I can't believe I'm even having this conversation and being serious. If this was six months ago I'd deem myself insane… he can sort of _absorb_ the powers of others."

Before Claire could respond Peter came walking in the room and noticed Nathan leaning in to Claire explaining something but before Nathan could continue she jumped up and yelled, "Peter!" as Peter yelled "Claire?!". Nathan turned around to see his brother embrace his daughter in a huge hug like they've known each other for years and just now were reunited.

"Claire? What are you doing here?," Peter asked. They departed from the hug and before she could reply or make a connection that this was her uncle, Nathan interrupted.

"You know each other?," Nathan asked really confused.

"She's the cheerleader I had to save in Texas," Peter explained. "You know, save the cheerleader, save the world."

"_She's_ the girl you saved?," Nathan asked not quite believing how connected they really were.

"Yeah," Peter replied and looked back to the girl he didn't know was his niece yet, "You still didn't answer my question, what are you doing here? In New York?".

"I'm going to live here," Claire replied still too shocked to make a connection until she looked from her father to her hero and finally after a few seconds reality set in. "Wait a minute… he's your brother?".

"Yeah," Nathan simply said still a little shocked that he indirectly almost stopped his brother from saving his daughter's life.

"How do you know Nathan?," Peter asked confused.

Figuring that it'd be better for her to explain instead of her shocked flying father she said, "He's my biological father and that makes you my uncle."

"Father? Nathan you have a daughter?," Peter asked looking at his brother.

"Yeah… I thought she was dead though. I thought she died in a fire fourteen years ago until her mother called me and said that she was alive. I went down to Texas to see for myself," Nathan explained.

"So the girl that I saved to save the world turned out to be _your_ daughter?," Peter asked making sure he heard right. Father and daughter nodded their heads. "Well then she must be here to help us save the world."

"Let's save the world," Claire said confidently looking between her father and uncle/hero.

"I can't believe I'm buying into this but I guess I shouldn't fight this craziness anymore. It's real and we're proof of that," Nathan started looking to his family finally realizing what they had to do. "We'll save the world… as a family.," Nathan said looking straight into his daughter's eyes. All three of them have finally realized their destiny, and that's to save the world.

THE END

A/N: I hope you liked this story. It was my first dive into the HEROES universe and I hope I gave each character justice and wrote them in character. Please be kind in your reviews. I can't wait to see Season 3 of HEROES: VILLAINS which airs September 22, 2008. Thanks for reading and don't forget to watch the new season because I know I will.


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